Wednesday, April 15, 2015

We have been enjoying a new program at Wekiva Presbyterian Church
for more than a year now.Sponsored by
our Board of Deacons, it is a program that creates and send thoughtful letters
to church members who are ill, or homebound,or grieving , or going through some kind of a life-transition.The concept has been eagerly adopted by the
church members, both those who sign the letters on a Sunday morning, and those
who receive them in the mail during the week.It is a wonderful way to let one another know that they are being
surrounded with love and prayers.

Some of you have asked me about the background story of how our
Wishing Well came into being.I am glad
to share it, because it is touching and far reaching.It goes back to a woman named Kristine
Milleville Byrne.

Kristine Milleville Byrne, was born in 1954, the
daughter of Bertram J. Milleville and Eleanor Shaw Milleville.Kristine’s father Bert was a brilliant
inventor, the Vice President of Valve and Engineering Research for Rockwell
International, where he held many patents. Kristine’s mother Eleanor was a
gifted sculptor. A graduate of Simmons
College (Massachusetts), she was known for her realistic sculptures in
bronze.Her best-known
work is the bronze memorial to Roberto Clemente, in the city of
Pittsburgh.

Kristine Milleville grew up in a busy home filled with brothers
and sisters and love and faith, artistic appreciation, and intellectual
stimulation.She married and moved
east.

On July 9, 1979 Kristine Milleville Byrne was a lovely young woman of 25 with a bright
future.About four o’clock that
morning, when her husband Vincent was away on a business trip, Kristine was
strangled to death by an intruder into their home.Kristine’s murder
was a senseless tragedy.Her family was
plunged into grief by Kristine’s death.They went through all of the ordeal of her funeral, and the shock and
emptiness that comes with loss.

While they were going through that dark time, they
experienced something that had lasting meaning to them.Kristine’s family received a letter.The letter was not from one person, but rather,
signed by many people, who expressed to them their love and prayers in their
time of sorrow.The letter was from a
congregation who knew of this terrible event, and who reached out in compassion
to let the family know that they were not alone—that others were praying for
them, and that God cared for them. Eleanor was so moved by what that church did, that
she wanted to thank them and she wanted to learn more about the letter.So in time, Eleanor contacted them, and asked
them about it. This was how she learned about that congregation’s
commitment to being in touch with people going through tough times, or
celebrating joys, through what they called “Letters of Concern”.

E

ach Sunday, letters expressing concern,
congratulations, or sympathy were prepared by the Deacons of
that church.Then, on Sunday mornings,
the Deacons
placed the “Letters of Concern” on a
table in the church, where the members of the congregation could take the time
to read them, and sign these heartfelt notes of caring.And then, having been signed by the
congregation, the letters were mailed to the members and friends to whom they
had been written.

The idea was so meaningful to Eleanor that she took its story to
her own church.And, inspired by how
much it had helped the Milleville family, that church decided that they too
would engage in this ministry of caring.That was 1979.That church has
been writing letters of concern to many people, every Sunday, for 34 years,
ever since.

If you put the words “Letters of Concern” in quotes, and then the
word deacons on its own, you will find that there are a number of congregations
who have done as Eleanor’s church did, in taking that idea of that first
congregation, and putting it into practice in their own.Not surprisingly, they are mostly Presbyterian congregations.For that is where it began, and that is where
the idea has spread. I happen to know the story because, for a decade, I served Eleanor
and Bert Millevile’s church in Pittsburgh.They were both dear friends as well as church members.A part of my ministry was working with the
deacons there.So, I saw at first-hand,
that these “Letters of Concern”—these written reminders of love and
prayer—build people up when they need it the most.Because of that ministry, I know of many
people who have kept and treasured these letters of concern, down the decades,
including our own family.

The idea that began at one Presbyterian Church, and continued at
another, and another, and another, is now before our own congregation.And while I might be tempted to tell you that
“Letters of Concern” was my idea, or some member of our congregation’s idea,
that would do Eleanor and Bert and Kristine a disservice, wouldn’t it?“Letters of Concern” are what I call a
“God-idea”.An idea that God set into
the hearts of someone in that first congregation, and passed along into the
hearts of another, and another, and another… including our own.

I am glad that the Deacons at Wekiva are taking Eleanor’s idea of
preparing “Letters of Concern” to heart, and have given them a new distinctive
name.Wekiva’s “Wishing Well” gives us a
way to remember and honor Eleanor and Bert and their daughter Kristine.And out of the Milleville’s family tragedy,
it helps us bring the compassion of Jesus Christ very close, into the homes and
hearts of those we love.

So
on the one hand we have Jesus and on the other hand we have Peter, his most
famous disciple.

The conversation is unfolding in the Upper Room.Jesus is preparing the disciples for what is
to come.

Peter is a man of bravado.Of boldness.A risk taker.A maker of unexpected moves.He is the one who leapt out of the water to walk
toward Jesus…and for a moment or two, Peter also walked on the water.

He is making another one of those leaps of faith right
now.

The outcome is a lot like what happened when he leapt out
of the boat.

Peter’s intentions are good, his focus is right.

PETER’S INTENTIONS ARE
GOOD…

Peter’s
intentions are good, because they are faith based.He is eager to go where his faith will take
him.Even if it is into risky and
dangerous places.

Faith often prompts people to go to where it is risky.And where it is dangerous.We are to risk putting our personal security
aside, so that we can go and do what God intends.We are to trust in God and let God deal with
the danger.We see that again and again…

[]

So
for Peter and for us, having good intentions is a plus.

AND PETER’S FOCUS IS
RIGHT…

Peter’s
focus is right.

His focus is on Jesus.He learned with the boat and the walking on water incident, you have to
keep your eyes on Jesus.When Peter kept
his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water.When he looked away from Jesus, he began to sink.

"Look beyond the danger" "look to
Jesus"

As you head into a new day. …Look to Jesus.

As
you head into a new responsibility…Look to Jesus.

As
you head into a new challenge…Look to Jesus.

As
you head into a new season of life…Look to Jesus.

The goal and focus of Jesus’ ministry

-with those disciples for three
years…

-with each disciple who has come
along since then…

-with
you throughout your unfolding years

-and
even unto today…

The
goal and of Jesus’ ministry is that you will Look to Jesus.

-Look
to Jesus the source and center of your faith.

-Look
to Jesus the church's one foundation.

-Look
to Jesus your only hope and help:

-Look
to Jesus.

Now,
at that moment of their conversation in the upper room, Peter was determined to
keep his eyes on Jesus.

How could he know that in a few short days, he would be
quaking in fear when people in the courtyard of [] identified him as one of
Jesus’ followers?How could he know that
when the chips were down, he would crumble?Peter did not know how soon his boldness and bravado would be put to the
test.And how miserably he would fail
that test.

Listen to Jesus: “Will You Really Lay Down Your Life For Me?”

Will you?

Really?

Jesus knows what no one else knows.Jesus knows how Peter will react to the
charge that he is a disciple of Jesus.

The question is, how will each of us react?

-Do
we know?

-Are
we as certain as Peter was…

He
is the fellow who said, “Even if we must die with you—Jesus—we will not desert
you.”

Yet before very long, Peter is the one who denied Jesus
three times.

The
question is, how will each of us react?

Do
we know?

Can
we know…?

Being
a Christian means that we are being called by God into unfamiliar situations.Places where we feel as unprepared and as valuable
as Peter did in the courtyard.

Such moments
feels a bit scary, because there is so much uncertainty attached to it.

What will happen if I do this or that?

How
will people react?

Certainly
Peter thought that he would be in grave danger if they knew for sure that he
was one of Jesus’ disciples.

A few days before, there he was among
friends and wonderful fellow-disciples, and the teaching and healing ministry of
Jesus and things were great.

They
could all agree, what a fantastic ministry that we have.

Then, in what seemed a twinkling of an
eye, it all changed.

Familiarity has a certain comfort to
it.But it seems that when we go with
Jesus we are always going in the direction of the unfamiliar.

We are going on wilderness journeys,
or mountaintop heights, or raging
storms, or any number of situations that could catch us off guard.We are asked to step out in to the fearful
places, the unfamiliar places.

We know it is a risk— and we sense
that it can be a good and faithful thing to do.

The question is, how will each of us react?

Do
we know?

Can
we know…?

Jesus
knows how every one of his followers will react in tight places.

Have
you been watching Downton Abbey?One of
the character is Carson, who sort of runs the servant part of the stately
home.Carson is concerned with every
detail of how the house functions so that it ser4ves the owner and his family
well.He is also concerned about the
large staff, that they know their work and do it well.Carson is famous for maintaining
traditions.Carson is also famous for
being reluctant to have innovations…the telephone…radio…

Carson is a good servant, and almost a great servant.If only he were not so reluctant to take on
the new and next assignment…

Bible says that we are Jesus’ servants.Servants, God assigns for this or that kind
of service.Servants, who go and do as
it seems best to God. It can be a great privilege and honor to have been assigned
here of there.

Most importantly, though, we are to be ever-ready for that
next assignment.

I
suspect that in many of our lives, right now, Jesus is hanging out our next
assignment.

Are we ready?

Jesus tells Peter that the immediate future is going to be
a letdown.And he tells peter that the
more distant future will have great challenges.

36 Simon
Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where
I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.”

Follow
the line of thinking in the Bible passage today and we tend to lean toward the
answer

Jesus
Chooses Us.

But
we know our own thoughts, heart and mind.Just like we know our own features.

Or
at least we THINK we know our own features.

But
do we?

You
know years ago, before there was photography, we did not really see ourselves
as others see us.

That
was the point of an old poem by Robert Burns

Would
the porw full gift …

The
gift e gee us to

See
ourselves as other see us…

Back
then, before photography, we saw ourselves in a mirror, which is what:

A
mirror image.

A
kind of a likeness, but totally flipped from left to right from what everyone
else saw.And so a distorted view.Recognizable.But not right.

Now
you understand this is an illustration of a larger point.That we really do not know everything about
ourselves.

But
we know enough to get by from day to day.

We
become used to our thoughts and our feelings and our likes and dislikes and our
point of view on the world, and we suppose that it is a true likeness.

Just
as in the way that …

We
become used to the way we look in the mirror, and we suppose that it is a true
likeness.But it is only true so
far.If you had a mirror image of a
dollar bill, you would see at once it is not right, and if you took it to Bells
or Target, trust me, you could not spend it.

The
same – to some extent – is true of us.

That
is not to say that we are not obsessed with how we look.

We
do have photography now, and we are more accustomed to looking at ourselves as
we are.But I have heard many people say
that’s not me.

Not
only do we have photography, but with cell phones we have this other phenomenon
called the Selfie.

We are the Selfie Generation.

We
take photos of ourselves in almost every imaginable situation.

I
have seen selfies of people bungee jumping and sky diving.Selfies of people on tops of buildings and at
the bottom of the ocean, selfies of people with famous people and selfies of people
at splashy events.We want to record
ourselves with it all.

Some
of you may even have selfie-poles, so that you can get more into the frame of
the picture.A Selfie of you with the
Grand Canyon. The great Plaines, the entire Golden Gate bridge, and so forth.

Selfie…

It
is good in its way.But here’s the thing
about the selfie generation.

All
this Posing And Posting has a tendency to turn us all into narcissists.

-Where
the world and everything in it revolves around us.

-As
if it is all about us.

If we come to Jesus from that point of view it is literally
deadly.

What do I mean?

When we become so fixated upon ourselves; we leave no
room for the Lord.

So we think to ourselves:

“I chose Jesus, Jesus did not choose me.”

This mistaken notion makes perfect sense to us; because we
have filled our frame with ourselves, and there isn’t any place for the LORD
OF LIFE.Jesus is somewhere outside the frame.We are the big picture.

It is as I say deadly.

As deadly as what happened in Colorado not long ago.To members of the Selfie Generation.

DENVER— A pilot who lost control while taking
selfies was likely the cause of a small plane crash that killed two men this
past spring, according to federal investigators.

Pilot Amritpal Singh, 29, and his passenger were
killed instantly when Singh's Cessna 150K crashed into a wheat field shortly
after midnight May 31. The wreckage was discovered around 7:30 MT that morning.

A GoPro camera mounted to the plane's windshield
recorded Singh and several other passengers taking selfies on their cell phones
during a series of short flights before the crash, the National Transportation
Safety Board found. While the GoPro didn't record the flight where Singh
crashed, investigators portrayed a pattern of the pilot taking selfies and
possibly texting while giving rides to passengers above Front Range Airport,
about 30 miles east of Denver.

Singh's plane was about 740 feet above the ground
when it descended rapidly and hit the ground.”

It is horrible to think that by focusing
so much one one’s self, one can actually die.

But there is a whole long sad list of similar situations.

Last year – all over the world –

-A woman in Spain – fell from bridge – while
talking a selfie.

-A Polish man and
woman taking selfies at the cliffs of Cabo Da Roca in Portugal on August 11th,
fell to their deaths, as their children watched in horror.

Now these sad events point
to a theological truth.

The point is not be
careful when you take a selfie.

The point is Be
Careful Who You Are Focusing On In The First Place.

If we are spending all of our time focusing on
ourselves, then sooner or later, it is not going to end well.

Jesus says, “Haven’t
I chosen you?”

We need that sense of chosen-ness.

To know that we belong to
him, because He wants it that way,

Jesus wants us to be in
the framework of the world he is creating, which is so much bigger than the
Selfie world.

The letter to the
Ephesians reminds us that “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy ...”

We respond, and this is
the point in which we say, we have chosen to follow Jesus.But before that, the holy spirit was acting
in our lives to bring us so the point of saying we want to follow.God is always the prime mover, the first to
choose the first to invite the first to make a place for us.We are the ones whose calling it is to answer
yes, to respond we will follow Jesus, to commit ourselves to the way of Christ.

If we were to ask ourselves what
the strategy of the church of Jesus Christ is in the 21st
century.The answer is this.The strategy of the church in the 21st
century is the same as it has been since day one for 20 amazing centuries.The strategy of the church is very simple,
and very wonderful, and very powerful and very profound.It is to tell the story of what Christ means
to you, and to welcome otters to join with you in the journey of faith.

So draw the circle wider than a
Selfie.Draw it wider that you have
imagined it till now.It is just as
Jesus says.Jesus does the choosing.We are called to invite people in the firm
conviction that they are chosen to be among his followers.

You see there is another place in John’s Gospel where
Jesus makes this point clear.It is in John
Chapter 15.It goes like this:

You
are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call
you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you
everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not
choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit
that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my
name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love
one another.

Do
you know why God loves you the way God does? It’s not what you think. It’s more
than you think. It’s because whatever we are, or whatever we are not, God welcomes
all that we are, loves all that we are, and invites us in.

Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.
And I have called you friends.”

My
mother’s father used to tell a story about his grandmother’s brother.If you are following the line up the tree,
this would have been my great-great-great uncle.The story goes like this.One day, in the middle of the Great Depression,
so sometime around 1932, he went out for a loaf of bread.

He
just went away.

Vanished.

No
one who knew him before that day, ever saw him again.

Point
One

Sometimes people just
go away…

What makes someone do
that…?

:

People who depart
from one place or job or situation, do so because they believe going will be better
than not going.

If they go away from
point a, what they can be sure if is
that they will not be at point a any longer.

As far as point a is concerned,
they are gone.They have disappeared,
they have pulled up stakes.

Down through the
bible we know of the people who left.Adam and eve left the garden of Eden.How did that work out for them.The rich young ruler left the presence of Jesus.We know it and we feel sad about it, because
we think—there he was—almost a part of the great adventure of being with the
Lord.But off he went.We know nothing more about him.

All of those reasons
may be well and good but when it comes to being in Jesus’ presence…

Why would anyone leave?

Jesus had been teaching
his disciples about how one comes into the kingdom of Godhis message is not hard to understand.He tells them that“no one can come to me
unless it is granted by the Father.”

Now, while we are all raising our
hands and saying, pick me, pick me…apparently there were those among his disciples who did not do
that.They did not want that.John says…

66 “Because
of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.”

Point
Two

Many of his disciples
turned back.I cannot tell you one
oftheir names.I cannot tell you one thing they said. Or one
thing they did.They simply
vanished.As if they had gone out for a
loaf of bread in 1932 and were never seen again.

Many of his disciples
turned back.

Many, but not all.

We know that there was
a core group of disciples who did stay and went about with him.We know their names.

They were the ones who
said:

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One
of God.”

Why might it be better
to stay with Jesus?

To remain in the same relationship with him?

So that one can see more, do more, learn more, lean more, trust more, try
more, pray more, praise more…?

Yes indeed

“You
have the words of eternal life.”Jesus.we cannot hear them anywhere else.

We can consult horoscopes Z(please don’t) they don’t work.

We can listen to the latest self help guru (please don’t unless you want to
line their pockets with small green portraits of obscure presidents).

We can listen to the prognosticators who tell us this or that is about to
befall us.And there are plenty who do.

But if they arenot speaking from
the vantage point of Christian faith, and the truth of Christ, why give them
the time of day?

Why does a well trained sentry stay at his post no matter what the weather
may bring?The task at hand is larger
than any personal preference.The mission
is more important than the person, and yes, the person finds her or his meaning
in the mission itself.

Did you wake up this morning with your mind
stayed on Jesus ...?

Did you keep your mind stayed on Jesus throughout
the day?

Did you recall yourself immediately when
you sensed that you had strayed from Jesus…?

Did you stop, return, rest, and wait for
Jesus?

They you are positioning yourself to receive
what Jesus is offering to you.

Stay with Jesus.

Point
Three

There
is an aspect of our 21st century world that has a “hello, I must be
going” attitude about it.You know what
I mean.People do not stay put
much.Statistics say that the average American
will 11.7 timestimes in his or her life.The average American will change not just
JOBs but careers 7 tines in her or h is lifetime.The Average American - 16% of persons born after 1970 will marry, divorce, remarry, and
redivorce – in his or her lifetime.There is a revolving door aspect of our
modern world that we may regret., we may deplore, but we must understand has
become the norm.

Now
it is not the norm, when it comes to Christian discipleship.Christian Disciples are called to be “above
average”.

There
may be some disciples like those of Jesus who were t here or only a season, or
only till they could get what they wanted from him, or only until the way
became a bit difficult and then they turned back.They mayhave stayed a week or two, or the summer through but then they vanished.

This
is not the way of Christian discipleship.We know it.We know that the
Christian disciples are those who have stayed with Jesus.Yes they may have fallen asleep when he said
keep watch, they may have looked momentarily away when he aid to keep their
eyes upon him, they may have even denied knowing him when things got really
dicey, but in the end they stayed the course and it was the course that changed
the course of human history for all time.If we think of the eleven who did not leave him at this moment in our
scripture, the ones we know about, who witnessed to his death and resurrection,
who went about preaching the good ne3ws, who placed their very lives on the
line for him, and all of whom died in the cause of Christ—and who gained the
praise of our Lord and received the promise of eternity.Then we have the example to follow.Anything less would be…lack of commitment,
lack of faith, lack of resolve, lack of integrity.

Conclusion

That
great great great great uncle who went out for the loaf of bread in 1932…?He was lost to his family.Lost for all time.No one knows what became of him.I doubt that anyone will ever know.

Christian
disciples don’t want to be like that.We
want to stay close to Jesus – to be part of the family of faith, to know the
Lord and tomake him known.For today and for all eternity.

Holyrood Abbey - Edinburgh, Scotland

Welcome, Friends!

Welcome to this series of thoughts and reflections on the Christian journey and life in general.

My hope is that you will find ideas here that will be helpful to you, or that will be an encouragement for you to read and worship and seek as God prompts you.

If you have a church home, I hope you are a faithful member there--worshiping and sharing in education, mission and fellowship.

If you do not have a church home, I hope that God will speak to your heart to point you toward a worshiping fellowship where your faith can be lived out in tangible and meaningful ways.

If you live in Central Florida, I encourage you to visit the church I serve, Wekiva Presbyterian Church in Longwood.

If you live far away from Central Florida, you can worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 11 AM Eastern Time, by going to our church website and linking to our live webcast. Or by watching the Sunday worship in the week following. All of the services are also archived there.

I hope you will let me know what you think of what you find in these postings by posting a comment. Or by using the feature at the end of the post for fast "reactions" feedback. Just click the box that is closest to how the post strikes you.

Blessings,

- John

About Me

John A. Dalles is a Presbyterian clergyman, hymn-writer and Pittsburgh native. A graduate of Penn State, Lancaster Seminary (M. Div.) and Pittsburgh Seminary (Doctor of Ministry), he has served the First Presbyterian Church of South Bend, and Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh. Since 1997 he has served as Senior Pastor of Wekiva Presbyterian Church in Longwood, Florida (near Orlando). As a part of his ministry, Wekiva became the first church in the USA to present live webcasts of worship, a ministry inaugurated Sun., Jan. 2, 2005. Dalles is a writer of texts for hymns. His hymns have been published in hymnbooks in the USA, Canada and Australia. He has published three books of hymns, COME, O SPIRIT, SWIFT CURRENTS AND STILL WATERS, and WE TURN TO GOD. His hymn texts have also been set as choral anthems by noted sacred composers. His 2009 hymn, "God Bless the Work Your People Do" was the winning hymn in the 14th annual, highly-regarded Macalester Plymouth United Church Hymn Contest. He is married to the former Judith Taylor; they have a son, John Taylor Dalles and a daughter, Anne Elizabeth Dalles Sandoval.